Page 46 of The Soul Never Forgets

“He sure does. He came to see me after I got out of jail.” I hate saying that. I sound like a criminal.

“What did he say? And don’t hold back. Tell me everything because I know it’s going to be good.”

“He said he’s hurt we didn’t ask him to be best man, but he understands why we didn’t. It was because we knew that he was so good-looking that he would have outshined both of us. And he would’ve hated to ruin our wedding day.”

Gussy rolls her eyes. “Good grief. That sounds just like him.”

“On a more serious note, he and Lena are happy for us.”

“Simon is still with Lena? Wow.”

Simon is a jokester, but he and I had a heart-to-heart about his feelings for Lena. “He loves her.”

“And she loves him.”

“Who knows? Maybe they’ll be the next ones to piss off New Orleans society and get hitched.”

“They’d best be careful. Marie Dauphine will not accept that without a fight. Lena could be the next one who gets strangled in the front yard.”

“Simon wanted to see you before he went back to New Orleans, but I told him we couldn’t chance it.”

“I hope he understood.”

“He did.”

“I’ll write to him.”

“I think he’d like that.”

August glides her hands up my arms and drapes her arms over my shoulders, coming up on her tiptoes and rubbing her breasts against my chest. “Can we finish this conversation a little later?”

Stooping down, I scoop her legs into my arms and carry her to the bed, gently lowering her to the mattress.

* * *

It’s beenfour hours since I slipped through the back door of the cottage. The sun will be rising soon, and I’ll be forced to leave my wife. “Damn, I don’t want to be apart from you again.”

"Stay with me.”

“I wish I could but it’s not safe. Your parents could still have someone watching us.”

“Frank, something has happened, and I’m nervous about telling you.”

“You never have to be afraid to tell me anything. You know that.”

With trembling fingers, Gussy takes my hand and presses it against her lower stomach. “I’m going to have a baby.”

Wait.

What?

“A baby?” I sit up and look at my hand on her stomach. “Are you sure?”

“The doctor is certain. He says it should arrive late March. Probably the last week.”

“We said that we were going to wait.” We both decided and agreed.

“Well, the baby doesn’t care what we said we were going to do.”

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